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One thing most people can agree on during this increasingly divisive era is that real and fake news is getting harder to decipher each day.
Even the smartest and digitally capable individuals could be fooled into believing a piece of fake news these days.
This is because of false visual images and videos. Many people are especially inclined to believe videos because they are seeing what is happening right before their eyes, and it gives them some sort of confirmation.
But, with the rise of deep fakes, viral videos, and photo manipulation, how can we confirm anything at this point? The Atlantic stated in an article, "The way (film) elements are selected, edited and represented has an enormous impact on the way they are received and understood."
Deepfakes come in two forms: putting someone's face on a different body so it looks like they did something they never did or changing the words of a speech and the speaker's face so it looks like they said something they did not.
The most popular deepfakes are of celebrities or politicians. There have been countless manipulated videos of President Trump, Hillary Clinton, and even Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One thing most people can agree on during this increasingly divisive era is that real and fake news is getting harder to decipher each day.
Even the smartest and digitally capable individuals could be fooled into believing a piece of fake news these days.
This is because of false visual images and videos. Many people are especially inclined to believe videos because they are seeing what is happening right before their eyes, and it gives them some sort of confirmation.
But, with the rise of deep fakes, viral videos, and photo manipulation, how can we confirm anything at this point? The Atlantic stated in an article, "The way (film) elements are selected, edited and represented has an enormous impact on the way they are received and understood."
Manipulated Content
A deepfake, according to Ste Davies, "is a technology based on machine learning which is used to produce or alter video to make it look like something happened that did not."Deepfakes come in two forms: putting someone's face on a different body so it looks like they did something they never did or changing the words of a speech and the speaker's face so it looks like they said something they did not.
The most popular deepfakes are of celebrities or politicians. There have been countless manipulated videos of President Trump, Hillary Clinton, and even Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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| An example of a deepfake from Bloomberg. |
The other big issue, besides editing a person's face or voice, is missing context from viral videos. In this day and age, the outrage from a misinterpreted viral video could be astronomical.
Especially in 2020, there have been many videos of police allegedly using excessive force on civilians. Those clips can be uploaded to any social media platform within seconds, and they may only show 20-60 seconds of footage before a narrative is developed.
Of course, there is a balance between what journalists and consumers can do to prevent spreading misinformation.
It is important to hold journalists to a high standard during these uncertain times and expect them to report and share the truth. However, the consumers will always have a duty to do their best to dig deeper into a story, photo, or video.
There could always be a hidden lie underneath the surface and it is everyone's job to find it and focus on that rather than taking all information at face value.
What Can Journalists Do?
The first draft outlines many rules journalists can follow when reporting to best uphold the truth. The article explains how journalists are typically trying to follow their codes of ethics, but in this new era, "news organizations find themselves facing an array of new ethical challenges relating specifically to amplification."Of course, there is a balance between what journalists and consumers can do to prevent spreading misinformation.
It is important to hold journalists to a high standard during these uncertain times and expect them to report and share the truth. However, the consumers will always have a duty to do their best to dig deeper into a story, photo, or video.
There could always be a hidden lie underneath the surface and it is everyone's job to find it and focus on that rather than taking all information at face value.
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